Top 10s

Andrew Weil’s Top 10

For decades, Andrew Weil has been one of the best-known doctors in America. He has been featured on the cover of Time magazine twice for the impact of his “integrative” approach to health care, fusing alternative medicine with conventional medical practice, emphasizing nutrition, exercise, and stress reduction. From his earlier work on altered states of consciousness and psychoactive drugs to his more recent work on diet and aging, Weil has exerted a huge influence on how we think about our health. He also turns out to be an avid Criterion fan, so we asked him for his Top 10. Here’s what the doctor ordered:

Terry Gilliam

There’s no other film quite like it: an unsettling vision of a dystopic future, something like 1984 but with wildly funny touches, including one of Robert De Niro’s most unforgettable roles. A great ride.

Terry Zwigoff

If you’re worried that you’re crazy and want to feel sane, watch this riveting documentary about artist R. Crumb and his relatives. His family defines dysfunctional. He alone found a way to channel the dysfunctionality into creativity as a unique form of visual art.

David Mamet

Paul Schrader

A riveting art film that chronicles the dramatic life and death of the great twentieth-century Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima, and also brings to life three of his fictional works. The real-life story is as dark and surprising as any of the novels. Philip Glass’s original score works perfectly with the striking imagery.

Federico Fellini

An early Fellini masterpiece and a deeply engaging story about the triumph of the human spirit over adversity and betrayal. You will fall in love with Giulietta Masina. Her last scene is one of the most emotionally moving film sequences I have ever watched.

Stanley Kubrick

This very early work by Stanley Kubrick is the most powerful antiwar film I know. Its emotional impact is overwhelming. Few people can watch the last scene without shedding tears. (The singer in it became Kubrick’s second wife, and they remained together until his death.)

Akira Kurosawa

A meditation on the nature of reality by Akira Kurosawa, one of greatest of all Japanese films, with magnificent performances by Toshiro Mifune. Is there such a thing as “objective reality”? Or, as Kurosawa suggests, is it all in the eye of the beholder?

Rob Reiner

If you haven’t seen Spinal Tap, it’s your loss. The best mockumentary ever, with lines that made me fall out of my seat the first time I watched it, laughing so hard I couldn’t catch my breath. I’ve watched it countless times since and still crack up. Christopher Guest as Nigel is too good for words.

Henri-Georges Clouzot

A one-of-a-kind film that will have you on the edge of your seat. The suspense is overwhelming, as men attempt to haul truckloads of nitroglycerin along a hellish South American road. It’s a delight to watch Yves Montand sweat it out.